Monday Review: NEVERWORLD WAKE by Marisha Pessl

Synopsis: It's Groundhog Day. Well, sort of. It's a lot less funny and a lot more scary, even when your four ex-best-friends are in it with you.

It's been a year since graduation; a year since Beatrice's boyfriend Jim died under mysterious circumstances deemed a suicide, with his body found in a quarry near their exclusive Darrow-Harker School. It's been almost that long since Beatrice has seen the rest of the members of their group, but out of the blue she accepts an invitation from her former best friend Whitley to join them at her family's estate up the coast, Wincroft. Beatrice is sure they'll know something more about Jim's death, and she's ready to find out.

Problem is, while they're all there, the five of them end up stuck in a time loop—a splinter, according to the mysterious Keeper who shows up at the door of the estate. Each time the time loop ends, they have to vote—and AGREE—on who gets to survive and live on, because only one of them can get out of the time splinter alive.

Observations: There are multiple sources of suspense in this one: Beatrice's quest to find out what happened to her boyfriend Jim, and also the group's repeated attempts to foil, fake out, or otherwise exit the time loop. Each day, something different happens, except when it doesn't. And each character copes differently: Kipling (the one character I was a little less sold on, because I couldn't buy his character quirks) and his drinking and attempts at suicide; Cannon the computer genius, who disappears for days at a time; Martha, the odd one, who brings her considerable intellectual faculties to bear; and Whitley, who seems determined to party and commit mischief until the end of time.

I'd only read Marisha Pessl's book for adult audiences, Night Film, which was both strange and suspenseful as well. This one combines elements of the supernatural and time theory with the classic page-turning greed of a thriller. Despite a few lingering questions about the how and why of it all, I ended up enjoying this one quite a bit.

Conclusion: If you're looking for a fast-paced, exciting, dark thriller, and aren't put off by hints of the supernatural, then you might enjoy this one. Also, fans of timeslip, time travel, and alternate universe fiction should give it a try.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find NEVERWORLD WAKE by Marisha Pessl at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: PERIOD 8 by CHRIS CRUTCHER

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

It's another Crutcher book! And I can't really tell you much of the plot without ruining the story! Come along and read about it anyway.

Synopsis: Period 8 lunch at Heller High school is where they've always met, just to hang out. Paulie, Justin, Hannah, Josh, and the rest have always felt comfortable with Mr. Logsdon, their government teacher. Some of them have been coming to his lunchtime salons since they were sophomores and juniors, and others are new. Since this is their senior year, and Logs' last year teaching, the meetings feel necessary. Logs always says that leaving school without any clue about what's really out there is what messes people up, so they meet at Period 8 to be honest, to talk about what's really on their minds, to purge their family griefs, and to just ...make it through. Period 8 is honesty - and confidentiality. What's said in Period 8 stays in Period 8.

It was supposed to be a safe place for everyone. And it is, mostly, except if student body president Arney's doing his usual politician schtick. Lately Paulie's made it a little less safe for himself, since he cheated on Hannah - and she needs to talk about betrayals and guys and their stupidity. Paulie needs to talk about it, too... because he's still not quite sure what happened. He's terrified he's turning out to be like his philandering father -- but there was just something weird about the whole thing. Mary Wells, the girl they call "the Virgin Mary" came on to him, hardcore. What was that about? And, why is Arney, his supposed friend so... smug about it? And lying to him? And, worse, making time with Hannah? What kind of friend does that? Certainly not a real one.

At least there's truth to be found in open water. Paulie and Logs have been swimming as a year-round workout for a long, long time, and as things unspool, Paulie discovers more lies, and Mary continues to fling herself at him. Everything is unclear - people he thought he knew are wearing masks more than at any point in his life, but there are answers. Until he finds them, Paulie pushes himself harder and harder in the water. When no where else is safe, it will be his salvation.

Observations: Wonderland loves Chris Crutcher. I may have even stalked him at Conferences (Tanita style, which is, showing up where he was speaking, but not looking at/speaking to him), and AF and I interviewed him back in 2006. Which made discovering I'd missed the release of one of his books a bit bittersweet. On one hand, the field has changed immensely since I first started reading Crutcher; there are more honest, diverse voices speaking louder in the field, so his books maybe don't stand alone on a solitary plane anymore. That's all to the good -- but I'm a little sad I missed this release, yet grateful he's still writing and that I eventually discovered this book, though I must admit, it's slightly different from Crutcher's usual fare.

The realistic male voices and the immense athletic focus usually found in Crutcher books is present - swimming again - but this time it's sport unrelated to school, but to a personal challenge, which I loved. There is ethnic and gender diversity, the usual wry send-up of the "thumpers" - the Bible-reading religious kids -- but with a sense of humor this time, giving them the grace of allowing them to be characters with their own thoughts, and lessening, a bit, their usual roles as narrow-minded idiots, which was LOVELY. Also, as expected in a Crutcher book, there's the great discussions of values and ethics, and the sympathetic, wise adult figure - in this case, he's nearly retired, so has a lot less to lose than many adults within a school system, thus the conversations really go deep. Finally, there's the group of kids who are, on the surface, average teens, wrestling with issues of life and love. This time, there are real stakes -- real losses, and real pains which don't come up in the presence of the honest, wise adult mentor, or even the values-clarifying classmates. This time, the secrets stay hidden until it's nearly too late, and everything is destroyed. Without telling too many details, when all is said and done, it's a helluva way to end a senior year.

Conclusion: I wanted to put this book down - repeatedly - and spent time screaming pointlessly at the characters "Nooooooooo!" Readers will anguish as characters are manipulated and make Really Bad Choices, but there is within the human psyche the inability to look away from a train wreck for very long. Suspenseful, unnerving, and a subtle, nuanced discussion of whether we really know each other, and what we owe each other, this fast-paced book will reverberate with readers for days.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the bookstore. You can find PERIOD 8 by Chris Crutcher at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: LITTLE MONSTERS by Kara Thomas

Synopsis: Kacey Young has only been living with her dad and stepfamily for a year or so, after escaping from an unpleasant home life with her mother. Things are still delicately balanced, but it feels like she's finally found a real home—her stepbrother Andrew has become one of her best friends, and she's finally won over her 13-year-old half-sister Lauren.

Kacey's friends, though, are another matter entirely. At the beginning of the book, it seems like Kacey, Bailey, and Jade have become an inseparable trio, even if Bailey's always suggesting ways for them to get into trouble in their small Wisconsin town. Kacey goes along with it—even if she'd rather not, sometimes. And that's where we see the cracks start to form in their seemingly perfect unit. One night, Bailey and Jade go to a raging party without inviting Kacey along…but Bailey never comes home afterward.

In this page-turning thriller, everyone's got something to hide—and the person who's got the most to hide is sometimes the one you least suspect.

Observations: As with a lot of my reviews of suspense novels, I've tried to keep this one brief to avoid spoilers. But I can say a few things! One of the intriguing structural choices for this story was the decision to alternate sections from Kacey's first-person viewpoint with diary excerpts from another character's point of view. This sets up an immediate opposition and tension, with the reader wondering who's hiding what, and who they can really trust as a narrator. It kept me sort of suspicious of everyone until the last few chapters. In a way, that distanced me from Kacey as the primary narrator of the story, but not so much that I didn't want to keep following along.

The fact that all the major players DO have something to hide makes this an intriguing and gripping story—obviously, in a good whodunit, lots of possible motives are at play, and if they're woven in well, it keeps the reader guessing. And in this one, Kacey's murky past keeps her right in the center of things, including the suspicions of everyone around her.

Conclusion: I often turn to a good thriller when I'm looking for a fast read that's immersive and emotionally tense, to distract me from stress and busy-ness. This fit the bill perfectly and, as a fun bonus, there's a mixed-race Asian American character! (Though his identity was not really explored in the story. Pretty sure it would be a THING in a small town. Oh well.) Recommended for suspense fans.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find LITTLE MONSTERS by Kara Thomas at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: THE SPECIAL ONES by Em Bailey

Synopsis: A few years ago I read Em Bailey's earlier novel, Shift (reviewed here), and found it to be a suspenseful page-turning thriller, so I was interested to check out her newest novel: The Special Ones. This one's also a psychological thriller, with a lot of intriguing surprises and plot twists as well as a scary, unhinged villain.

When the story starts, we are immediately plunged into the rather unusual life of narrator Esther. Esther lives in a farmhouse with a younger girl, Felicity, and a slightly older boy, Harry, where their self-sufficient lifestyle has earned them the admiration and, dare I say, worship, of countless internet followers. They are the Special Ones. The only problem is, they can't leave. They can't even do anything outside of their prescribed roles, because he will punish them if they stray. I won't say much more, in order to avoid spoiling the suspense, but as the story unfolds, we find out the answers to critical questions like why are they there? How did they arrive? And, of course, who is he?

Observations: The Special Ones provides an interesting twist on the stuck-in-a-cult type of story; in fact, it is so much more than simply a cult, but I can't give you any more information than that. The suspense is well crafted here: As the author slowly reveals more and more details about the situation Esther is in, the ominous feeling continues to grow until we find out the true danger that she and her companions are in, and it is just as horrible as our imaginations feared it would be. AND THEN IT GETS WORSE! Of course it does.

There was a disorienting narrator switch well into the book that momentarily had me think, no! I don't want to leave Esther's POV now! But rather than being a book of two halves/two narrators, the switch was to introduce alternating viewpoints between Esther and another character, so ultimately the change of perspective wasn't too much of a jolt.

Conclusion: Overall, this book is a very gripping thriller with lots of psychological tension in the first half that translates into action toward the end of the story. It's also got well-rounded, interesting characters who are developed enough to make us care about what happens to them—a trait that is sometimes missing in more plot-driven suspense stories. The characters add a lot of dimension to this one, which is important in a story that asks WHY people make certain choices, and why they do the inexplicable and sometimes terrifying things that they do.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find THE SPECIAL ONES by Em Bailey at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: GIRL, STOLEN by April Henry

Synopsis: Every so often, I really want to go back to the reading tastes of my tween/teen years and pick up something that's a manically fast, suspenseful read with a strong girl protagonist a la Lois Duncan or Joan Lowery Nixon, whose books I used to devour. (I'd walk into the library's YA section—which, in the mid-late 1980s, was not very big—and head straight for the D's and the N's. I have a vivid memory of doing this.)

Girl, Stolen by April Henry (and it's got a sequel, Count All Her Bones) reminds me of those times, and I know I would have loved it. The protagonist, 16-year-old Cheyenne Wilder, is blind, but while her blindness is a critical part of the plot, it isn't used as a gimmick. It is, however, important to the setup. At the beginning of the story, Cheyenne is waiting in the car for her mother to pick up her prescription from the pharmacy: Cheyenne has pneumonia, so, feeling ill, she lies down in the back seat of the car. The next thing she knows, the car is being stolen with her inside of it. The thief, Griffin, didn't mean to kidnap anyone, just to steal a car, but when his dad finds out who Cheyenne is—she's the daughter of a wealthy executive—he decides to take advantage of the situation.

Observations: Cheyenne's blindness is not simply present as a plot device, and I appreciated that. She is a fully rounded character (as she should be) with the skills and smarts to outwit her opponents, and she needs every bit of her moxie in order to succeed against some truly scary baddies. It's also refreshing to have a protagonist with a disability who is placed into an exciting genre plot, rather than a problem novel or issue book or whatever you want to call it. And the sequel was just as exciting as the first book, with a plausible reason for Cheyenne to end up in trouble once again.

Conclusion: Fans of Caroline Cooney will enjoy these, too—you don't have to be someone who was a young adult in the bygone era of the last millennium. I promise.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find GIRL, STOLEN and COUNT ALL HER BONES by April Henry at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: MADE FOR YOU by Melissa Marr

Synopsis: I just finished reading this fast-paced suspense novel with a hint of the paranormal, and it was definitely a page-turner. I hadn't read one of this author's books in a while (not since the Wicked Lovely novels, which were tales of the dark faerie world) so it came as an unexpected but welcome diversion to be completely gripped by a thriller (as opposed to the real-life business going on at the moment). This one's got plenty of creepy psychological horror, a splash of romance, a hint of the Southern Gothic, and, of course, a few dead bodies.

It all starts when Eva Tilling-Cooper—a member of the popular crowd and veritable town royalty in Jessup, North Carolina—is struck by a car in a hit-and-run while walking along a country road. She wakes up in the hospital with a broken leg, a cut-up face, a traumatic brain injury…and a strange, unwanted new ability: when someone else touches her, she has a vision of their death. Although it starts off as a nightmarish, confusing occurrence, Eva comes to realize that her ability is real—and it might be the only way she can find out who was responsible for her injuries. Not only that, it might help her stop them from striking again.

Observations: This was one of those taut, well-paced books that increases suspense by using multiple perspectives—one of which belongs to the killer. Of course, that means the reader will, at some point, figure out who the killer is, and their relationship to Eva, but by the time you figure it out, it only ramps up the tension as you begin to wonder if the bad guy might actually be able to carry out his ultimate nefarious plans. So at that point it becomes a race against time for Eva, her best friend Grace, her former best friend/current love interest Nate, and the actual police detective (no, this isn't one of those books where the young protagonist manages all on her own—especially when she's getting around on crutches).

Besides the effective story structure, I appreciated the character development in this one. Eva is, yes, one of the popular crowd, but she's also smart, she studies, and her best friend Grace Yeung comes from "the outside"—her family moved to Jessup rather than being part of the generations-old clan mentality that generally rules the town. While Grace is Asian American, it isn't a "thing" here; and none of the main characters is a stereotype. Also, the villain is truly creepy (and thinks he is the hand of the Lord), and being inside his head every few chapters only makes your skin crawl throughout the book.

Conclusion: I highly recommend this one for fans of thrillers and crime novels. The paranormal element is enjoyable and works well but is not the dominant element here—I'd call it primarily a suspense/psychological thriller.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find MADE FOR YOU by Melissa Marr at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Cybils Speculative Reader: 23 MINUTES by VIVIAN VANDE VELDE

Welcome to the 2016 Cybils Speculative Reader!

As a first run reader for the Cybils, I'll be briefly introducing you to the books on the list, giving you a mostly unbiased look at some of the plot.

Enjoy!

I have a ridiculous love for the novels of Vivian Vande Velde (I also love the alliteration of her name just that tiny shade too much) and her speculative worlds never fail me. I discovered her vampire novel in my 90's YA reading, about the same time I discovered Annette Curtis Klause's vampires, and devoured them both. I'm pleased to see Vande Velde still writing.

This is your little holiday reminder to hit the library and dig up some of your favorite authors, and see what else they've published since the 90's! Vivian Vande Velde has been busy!

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Synopsis: Okay, so you're not going to care, but fifteen-year-old Zoe's had a crap day. She fought with her house mother, she stole her file from the office of her group home, and she's just been caught in the rain - so she steps into a bank, where everyone's giving her stinkeye. And then? There's a ROBBERY. And the one guy who's been kind of sweet and friendly to her... dies.

This is not the day Zoe signed up for.

What's worse is that though she's pretty sure her day is her fault -- totally sure, actually -- Zoe has to change the trajectory of this day -- she has that power, in theory. In practice, changing the world by changing your actions? Is darned hard. Sometimes she's too fast. Sometimes she's too slow. And she simply cannot think fast enough with guns firing and people falling on her -- her heart is beating too fast, and there's too, too much at stake.

Nobody looks at her. Nobody truly sees her. Nobody wants a damp, blue-haired girl to stand around, messing up the sanctity of their Adult World. But, Zoe has seen people die and she's got to stop it -- she's just got to... or else, what is her weird ability for? Who is she? What's her life about?

Observations: Vande Velde really stretches to determine the boundaries of this paranormal skill - twenty-three minutes is the amount of time Zoe has to change things, and ten times is how many times she can rewind. That's it. Establishing this clearly goes a long way toward helping the reader stay focused. While the book uses a lot of repetition, the focus of each scene is somehow subtly different, keeping the reader worried - and engaged.

This book was both funny and frustrating. It really says something about our culture that a teen is not listened to -- add to that a teen with blue hair, who doesn't look particularly prepossessing, is unaccompanied, has papers which detail her psychiatric history, and is by turns weeping, shaking, blurting, or snarking? She is NOT going to be heard. I knew this, and yet I kept hoping, and trying to think - and outthink - the protagonist, and come up with things she could try to get her very important message across, before the twenty-three minutes were up. I LOVE the mental gymnastics it took to plot this, and I hope to see a lot more uniquely fresh plot ideas like this. I really enjoyed this, even as it made me want to scream.

Conclusion: The Dutch version of this novel made me smile - I hope the paperback American version chooses to display that blue hair!

Vivian Vande Velde has a unique and twisty mind, which we already knew, but she truly put it -- and the readers' -- through its paces in this short, fast-paced novel.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of public library. You can find 23 MINUTES by Vivian Vande Velde at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Cybils Speculative Reader: WHERE FUTURES END by PARKER PEEVYHOUSE

Welcome to the 2016 Cybils Speculative Reader!

As a first run reader for the Cybils, I'll be briefly introducing you to the books on the list, giving you a mostly unbiased look at some of the plot.

Enjoy!

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Synopsis: A year from today, Dylan will finally give in and acknowledge the weird, sixth sense he has. He calls it the "vorpal," and like the Lewis Carroll poem from which it is derived, it's a bit weird - a bit changeable - but it allows him to see into the Other World. Things aren't quite the same in Dylan's world, but a year from today, he'll finally give up trying to pretend he's like everyone else. He'll let go and go through the looking glass...

Leaving behind Brixney, who is desperate to get more hits on her social media -- because that's the only thing that will save her brother from being moved to a crowded apartment in a different debtor's colony. Visa owns them, so their only choice is to try and entertain the world via Feedbin. Of course, nothing would be as entertaining as meeting another Dylan; everyone's heard his story. Brixney wishes she could meet one of those world-walkers, and give up...

The social media circus has turned the world on end. Epony's just a farm girl, but her grandfather taught her there's no future in farms. There's really no future in much of anything anymore, but at least she has her boyfriend... and if they have to fake a relationship for the Feedbin, so be it. It's not enough for a life though, and Epony fears that there's more out there -- and that she should try to find it...

Everyone's looking for a door to the Other World - but people like Reef know better. At least he's a good gamer, and wearing VR goggles and running around the city at least keeps him from missing what he could have... until he begins to miss it like a limb he's removed. What would he give for a chance to get away from it all? What would he take - and from whom?

Quinn's Special Work is all that has given her life meaning, until now. Now that she knows the truth of the world, she can finally be content... if she chooses to believe...

Observations:

Conclusion: The author contributed to a blog I loved years ago, so I was thrilled to see her name and her debut novel. Additionally, I was just floored by the complexity of the plot. This is like physics - amazing and unbelievable and kind of an act of magic. It's a linked story cycle of five novellas, essentially, five teens whose lives are inextricably cabled, but you don't get the "how" entirely, nor the "why" of them until the very end. It is ambitious - more ambitious than anything I've read in awhile - and defines the idea that speculative fiction is for asking "what if." Linear storytelling is hard enough, but this slipstream tale takes us sideways - and manages to hint at bigger ideas and to entertain us all at once.

This will be a big hit for vigorous thinkers, and I think it crosses over well to a win for adults. The imaginative worlds should have at least one stop each reader enjoys, though some may resonate more or less strongly with individuals. Readers who don't enjoy puzzles or mysteries may prefer something more straightforward, but if you're up to the challenge... have I got a book for you!

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the library. You can find WHERE FUTURES END by Parker Peevyhouse at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: PASADENA by Sherri L. Smith

Don't miss our interview with author Sherri Smith this Wednesday, as part of the Pasadena blog tour!

Synopsis: "The thing I'm finally learning is that someone can be your best friend in the world, but you're not necessarily theirs."

Pasadena. It's not L.A., but there is something quintessentially L.A. about it nevertheless: dusty brown hills, Santa Ana winds, that wish-we-were-Hollywood vibe. It resonates in stories and movies, and it resonated with me, as someone born in the town next door and brought up within an hour's drive. And the setting makes an appropriate title for this book, in which the city itself is almost a character in its constant presence.

It feels that way to seventeen-year-old Jude, too—only she is an outsider, having moved to SoCal from the East Coast a few years before, and Pasadena is not necessarily a benign character in her life. It brought her and her mother away from their painful past, but it also brought in Mom's creepy, sleazy boyfriend Roy. And it brought her a new best friend, Maggie Kim—but it took Maggie away. The novel opens with us finding out that Maggie was found dead, floating in the family swimming pool, an apparent suicide. The mysterious tragedy becomes more and more peculiar the more details emerge, and it forces Jude to examine her own life and how well she really knew her best friend. And, as it turns out, maybe nobody really knew Maggie Kim, not entirely.

Observations: This is a fascinating piece in its structure, because there is the obvious mystery of Maggie Kim and how and why she died, but then there's an inner mystery as well—the mystery of the narrator, which the author skillfully sneaks in around the edges, hinting at Jude's past through her present-day actions. Why is she so virulently repulsed by her mother's boyfriend Roy? Why does she keep pushing away her friend Joey, who obviously loves her and wants more than friendship? Why is she so convinced her friend's death wasn't a suicide—what's at stake for her in proving that it wasn't?

Appropriately, with the past and present mysteries both intertwining in this book, the author interweaves scenes of the past and present: Jude and Maggie's friendship in the past, as Jude tries to examine every detail of their friendship for clues to Maggie's actions, and Jude's determined and relentless quest in the present to unearth the real story of her friend's death. And of course, what she finds out along the way makes her question how well she really knew her friend at all—which is a feeling that anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide will recognize.

Like a tinted overlay in photography, the almost palpable presence of the setting informs the story on a constant basis, and grounds it in space—but not in time, because there is a timeless quality to it in the sense of it feeling frozen almost, a moment lived and relived again and again as Jude continues to search for something she might have missed. The varied and colorful cast of side characters—their sort of ancillary friends—are almost more a part of that setting rather than individuals in themselves; character archetypes that inhabit the social imaginary of youth in SoCal: Hank and Eppie the hippie surf bums, Luke the neurotic Chinese-American kid yearning to fit in, Dane and Tallulah the sickeningly picture-perfect perma-couple. There's a slight feeling of unreality to it all—which provides just the right amount of balance (or imbalance) to the all-too-real events of the plot.

Conclusion: This is an emotion-packed, suspenseful read, with a diverse cast of characters (diverse in a non-self-conscious, effortless way, and in a way that is very California). It's also got somewhat of a twist ending that will leave you questioning how easy it is for someone to hide their real selves in plain sight—I definitely felt very differently about the main characters at the end of the book than I did at the beginning. A very intriguing book that's a not-quite-thriller, not-quite-mystery, not-quite-issue-book, but something surprising and unusual all to itself in the way the story unfolds.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. You can find PASADENA by Sherri L. Smith at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: NEVER MISSING NEVER FOUND by Amanda Panitch

Synopsis: Suspense stories that deal with kidnapping and imprisonment (consider that your trigger warning) don't always put an equally weighty focus on the aftermath of the trauma. This particular thriller suspensefully covers both the dramatic events and what comes after in alternating parallel storylines. And, of course, "what comes after" includes even more suspense and drama.

In Never Missing Never Found, we are introduced to narrator Scarlett, who was kidnapped and spent four years imprisoned in a basement with another girl before she was found wandering the side of the road. Her family moved to another city, far away, and tried to recover. Now a teenager, she is working at a local amusement park and finally feeling like her life is more or less on track. All except for her younger sister Melody, who just never managed to warm up to Scarlett after her return.

And then…a co-worker from the amusement park goes missing, a girl named Monica. Another co-worker seems to know too much about Scarlett, things she's never told anyone here. The alternating past and present viewpoints add tension to an already gripping story without giving away too much at once, and the reader can only watch as Scarlett's past, inevitably, catches up with her.

Observations: The author uses an interesting structural device to reinforce one of the story's major themes: that we are the sum of the choices we make in life, that the results of those choices end up defining us in some fundamental way. Scarlett relates her story in terms of five critical choices she made along the way, from the day she was taken, on forward to the story being told in the "present." It's a device that could seem artificial, possibly, but it isn't overused here. Instead, these carefully chosen critical moments are fleshed out and developed so that we understand the narrator more and more along the way. Ultimately it all seems to unfold mostly organically. I did have a couple of moments where I was surprised by Scarlett's actions, and became skeptical, but all was explained in a rather nifty twist at the end.

Also, kudos to the author for having Latina main characters but having it not be a "thing." It's a part of their identity, but the story isn't about that. 

Conclusion: This is a good fast page turner for fans of suspense. I'll admit I wasn't sure about the plausibility aspects of some parts of the story, but I was able to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the action and the psychological twists. It reminded me of the Joan Lowery Nixon/Lois Duncan brand of thriller—which I devoured as a teen. I'm sure I would have enjoyed this one as a young adult reader.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find NEVER MISSING NEVER FOUND by Amanda Panitch at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: TWISTED by Hannah Jayne

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Every adult summer of my life, I look back with disgust on the summers I squandered, wishing school would start again. Adult Me wishes I had endless days off to read basically non-improving books. We call them "beach reads" because they're quick and light, but that doesn't mean they have to be dumb - they're just an afternoon's entertainment. While normally you might not go seeking a book about, say, the child of a serial killer, that might be the type of book that distracts you in an airport, doctor's office, or keeps you awake on a lazy afternoon outdoors. Without giving away any spoilers, this novel has misdirection, emotional confusion and multiple good guys to confuse its mystery narrative.

It starts with a girl who's keeping secrets.

Synopsis: She's starting over. Pixie cutting and lightening her long brown hair. Ditching her old wardrobe for Basic Teen, Generic. Changing her name. Abandoned daughter of an alleged murderer Beth Anne Reimer is now Bex Andrews, in a new city, with new foster parents and a whole new outlook on life. No longer tainted by history in the city of Raleigh, four hours away in the quirkily named Kill Devil Hills, there is nothing dark, nothing bad, and nothing tragic haunting her. If Bex could just sort of ...tune in, and make sure her new foster parents like her, make certain that she plays her part, she'll begin to believe that everything might be really all right now.

And, contrary to Bex's expectations, everything's... fine. She makes friends, immediately - with cheerleaders, no less. A boy claims her from the herd, paying her special attention she's never received before. This is what everyone wants, right? Bex is now living the American Teen, Generic dream. But, it still doesn't feel right. Every shadow makes her jump, every unexpected touch launches her out of her seat. And then, a friend she's just barely made is murdered --

-- and everything dark and bad and haunting and tragic that Bex fears is back in her face, larger than life.

All she wants - desperately - is for the past to stay gone. But, if she's not exactly clear about the truth of the past, maybe she owes it to herself to find out what really happened back then, for real. Maybe then, she can lay her ghosts to rest, once and for all.

Observations: I picked this book up because too often in YA lit, adults are used as set pieces to be moved around the stage at the convenience of the main character. My parents, bless them, were NEVER convenient, and I wanted to read a book which depicted realistic adults. While this book makes an attempt to do that, showing the painful and often confusing journey Bex takes in dealing with her past, the novel relies heavily on no one ever talking to an adult like they're a real person to make the plot work, which didn't work for me.

Several spooky things happen - a back porch gift, which turns out to be tainted, a postcard, and a few other exchanges - and there's no follow up. No one talks to a policeman, a teacher, a school counselor, or each other, ever again about the cumulative body of evidence that SOMETHING is wrong. I recognize that these books are meant to be depicting teens, but as I often grouse, young doesn't mean stupid. Bex isn't swanning around, trying to play Nancy Drew, and while eventually she doesn't know whom she can trust, her friends at least should have had some questions about what they discovered -- questions which they should have asked insistently, until they got answers.

Conclusion: For the most part, entertaining with a bit of a thrill, this twisty mystery isn't a Whodunnit so much as a Who Do I Trust, which is more nerve wracking, in many ways. The ending is a bit rushed, but those seeking a soupcon of danger with a reassuring Happily Ever After will find that here.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. And, after July 5, you can find TWISTED by Hannah Jayne at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: NEED by Joelle Charbonneau

I think this is a pretty effective cover.

Synopsis: Need, which I randomly picked up as part of a recent library haul, is a suspenseful thriller with a topical premise—the insidious power of social media and the questionable ease of online interactions—but it also asks timeless questions about ethics, peer pressure, what we want vs. what we truly need, and how far individuals will go to get what they want.

When sixteen-year-old Kaylee finds out about Need, the new social media site for students of Nottawa High School, she is initially skeptical, and understandably so. Sure, it sounds too good to be true that all you'd have to do is invite a few friends or complete a simple task, and then you'd get to make a request. But then people start getting things like new phones, new computers…and Kaylee decides to take a chance and ask for what she really DOES need: a new kidney for her younger brother DJ, from a donor who is a good match.

Then things start to get sinister. People start to get hurt. The tasks assigned by Need aren't so harmless anymore. Pretty soon someone winds up dead. Kaylee starts questioning who's behind it all—and suddenly it's a race against time as people are picked off, one by one.

Observations: One of the strengths of this book is the level of suspense created as the reader watches helplessly while everyone descends into a sort of Lord-of-the-Flies, everyone-out-for-herself game of survival, wondering who is pulling the strings. It's definitely a page turner, as the viewpoint shifts between several characters, each of whom has their own needs and wants—and some of whom will go to any extreme to get it. What do we choose when faced with temptation, with a devil's bargain? Which of the seemingly normal people around us might be a hidden sociopath? What happens when we allow ourselves to be manipulated? These are all fascinating questions explored by this story.

I did have a few minor issues, though. As for who is pulling the strings, I unfortunately guessed pretty early on because, realistically, the options for whodunit were limited. I also found the whydunit problematic—the villain struck me as a bit over-the-top, a bit of the typical madman sort with no conscience and abundant megalomania. Lastly, I did find myself questioning the believability of the overall premise: how realistic is it to think that a harmful and manipulative social network would escape the notice of adults or the outside world for long enough to cause this level of havoc? BUT—I don't think these are questions that are going to bother most readers, and they don't keep the book from being an engaging, interesting, and fast-paced story.

Conclusion: Fans of contemporary thrillers will want to check this one out—it tackles topically relevant issues in a very compulsively readable way, and definitely hits frighteningly close to home in our internet- and social-media-saturated society. It might also prove thought-provoking for readers growing up in a world where social media has always been a fact of life—and get them to ask the right kinds of questions when the next new thing comes along.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library. You can find NEED by Joelle Charbonneau at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Turning Pages Reads: FUTURE SHOCK by Elizabeth Briggs

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!

Synopsis: Elena Martinez is a foster child who is aging out of the system in just a few months. She's seen what happens to kids in her situation, without direction, support, or funds, they end up on the street, perpetuating the cycle of bad decisions and parent-less kids. Determined that her life is going to go a different direction, beginning with college, Elena's job hunting like mad. To her advantage: her eidetic memory, excellent grades, and ability to focus and work hard. Against her, her sleeve of tattoos and her Latina-ness, in the face of largely white and apparently prejudiced potential bosses. Interview after interview, and so far, Elena's out of luck. She can't afford to be out of luck, so when a stranger comes to her foster home from the Aether Corporation, a high-profile tech firm in the city, and offers her the chance to make a ridiculous amount of money just to "participate in a short research project," she knows it's too good to be true - but she signs on anyway. The money will pay for college - she's got to take a chance.

The research project turns out to be a chance to travel to the future for twenty-four hours - and simply to pick up information. Easy enough, except that Elena's not the only one chosen, and some of the rest of the team are real pieces of work -- a couple of aggressive, hardcore punks like she's run a group homes before, a quiet, punky girl who looks like she might be afraid of her own shadow, and a kid who looks like he got lost on the way to a GQ shoot. What's weird is that every single kid but one on the team, except for Mr. GQ is... a foster kid. Is that because they're expendable? And, why are there only kids, anyway? What happens if something goes really wrong in the future? How are they supposed to cope? And, why does Aether Corporation make such a big point of reminding them not to check out their own futures? Could it really give them some kind of a stroke?

With twenty-four hours on the clock and a strong desire to secure her future - and get back to her past in one piece - Elena is watching everything, and everyone. And, when the inevitable happens, all she can do is throw herself behind the belief that the present is still waiting to happen -- and gamble everything that somehow they can change the future.

Observations: This novel is grippy! Though some readers may find the pacing uneven, the gradual - and despairing - beginning of the novel and then the faster, creepier quicker pacing works for me. The characterization is quick and dirty at first, then deepens, and the reader gets a chance to know the protagonist a little, and she held my attention to a surprising degree. I really like that Elena Martinez is a GATE kid - and she's Latina. Her home situation is bad, she has tattoos and a violent history, but hey: she's in the gifted program at school and can make the grades. (Some of the other members are the team skewed, for me, a little closer to type than character - The Thug, the follower, the hipster - but the characterization does deepen somewhat.) The author pegs the ragged edges of the main character immediately. You see that Elena gets her back up easily, but you also see that she has a big, soft heart beneath all of the fronting. Readers will empathize with her tenuous situation - knowing that once she's eighteen, she's out the door of her overcrowded foster home is a very real, relatable fear, and author does her justice here.

The mystery aspect of the novel, as Elena tries to unravel a pretty basic "Whodunnit" is surprisingly frustrating - but not in a negative way, but in a way that is essentially realistic. Elena runs out of clues, out of neat tricks, and literally out of time, which means that the team has to cobble together a kind of "um, maybe this'll work" scenario, then pop back into their timestream. I was really surprised by that - the frayed, no-consensus, disorganized retreat is really atypical to a mystery narrative. And yet, it was very realistic that Elena had to just... live her life, to find out what really happened. That she wasn't able to control everything was also terribly realistic.

Conclusion: An intriguing beginning for apparently a series, this mostly quick-paced mystery novel has a touch of romance, some genially mad scientists, those driverless cars we're just now seeing (no flying ones, however) and a lot of promise that the future is much, much more disturbing and cooler than we may have previously imagined.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. And, after April 1, you can find FUTURE SHOCK by Elizabeth Briggs at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Monday Review: ALL THE RAGE by Courtney Summers

Summary: I finished reading this one today…and I just started reading it last night, right before bed. When I picked it up again this morning to enjoy with my coffee, it turned out to be basically un-put-down-able. It's easy to see how this suspenseful and wrenching story got starred reviews. The author takes the themes of bullying, rape, and small-town small-mindedness and draws an intensely personal story told from the viewpoint of Romy, the girl nobody likes—not just at her school, where she's bullied and accused of being a liar for the things she's said about the sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, but also by the assorted busybodies around the town of Grebe.

We live in a culture that sometimes prefers to blame the victim when it's too difficult to blame the perpetrator, and this story brings that difficult reality into harsh and believable relief. It is clear from the punchy, intense flashback scenes that begin the story that Romy is not at fault for the trauma she's suffered. But the blame game is so effective that even Romy feels like there's something wrong with her, and like she can never tell her side of the story. Who would believe her?

The only place where she feels normal now is at her job, waiting tables at a diner outside of town. She even meets a nice guy there, Leon—but even that relationship is complicated by the painful issues in her past. And those issues rear their ugly heads when something terrible happens at a party out by the lake: a girl—Romy's former best friend, Penny—goes missing.

Peaks: The suspense in this one really knocked me out, as did the visceral descriptions not only of Romy's painful experiences but also of her inner torment. The reader is shown how intently Romy armors herself for the outside world with perfect red nail polish and lipstick, trying so hard not to show weakness, and yet still being bullied, pranked, and even assaulted at school. The contrast with her relatively peaceful (now, anyway) home life is staggering; it is a relief to see that there is something good, some hope in her existence, but at the same time it's a source of fear and frustration for the reader, to see the new home that Romy's mother and her boyfriend, Todd, are building together with Romy. Her family loves her but she is unable to break her silence, to tell them what's happening to her. The characters of her mother and almost-stepdad are well drawn, and they are an integral part of the story—of course, there's no way, in such a small town, that everyone isn't involved on some level. That part was also depicted in excruciating detail, the incestuous and ridiculous feuding and fussing of a town where everyone knows the skeletons in everyone else's closets.

Another thing I really liked was the relationship between Romy and Leon, how naturally and easily it developed, and how it complicated the story. The way the book was written and the way the beginning unfolded, my initial reaction to him was unease; he was just TOO nice. But the worse the rest of Romy's life got, the more I was rooting for them to succeed as a couple, to make it through, and for the happiness and positivity of Leon's family to spill over into Romy's life somehow.

Valleys: Because this was such a fast read, I did end up feeling like a couple of aspects of the story could have been explored a bit more deeply. One of those was Leon and Romy's relationship—I didn't get a deep sense of the implications of racial tension, though it was briefly mentioned once or twice. While this did not need to be a story about interracial dating per se or about racism, I expected to have more of a sense of what it meant for Leon and his family to be not only black, but black and successful, in an environment where people seemed to be mostly white and where poverty was clearly visible. However, this story was much more about the events, and the emotions and actions of the characters involved, and less about the specific setting and its socioeconomic context, so it didn't impede my enjoyment.

Conclusion: Highly recommended for fans of books like Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, and stories about the empowerment that lies in taking the courageous step to break a silence that needs to be broken.

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I received my copy of this book courtesy of my library's ebook collection. You can find ALL THE RAGE by Courtney Summers at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

Thursday Review: LOVE IS THE DRUG by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Summary: I read this a while ago, and I've been terribly neglectful in writing up a review. This was my first experience reading one of Johnson's books, and I had high expectations after what I'd heard about The Summer Prince (reviewed here by Tanita), which I still need to read. Love Is the Drug did not disappoint—it was a political/sci-fi thriller about an all-too-believable virus epidemic, set in Washington D.C. in the world of prep-school teens.

But don't let the fancy schools and uniforms and wealthy parties at the houses of diplomats' children fool you: the story's got plenty of diversity, too, and engages with everyday teen issues and serious sociopolitical issues alike. And, ultimately, it's a page turner, with flashbacks and memory loss adding suspense to protagonist Emily Bird's increasingly urgent attempts to unravel the real story behind the epidemic—all while being harassed by homeland security, who are convinced she knows something because of her parents' scientific and political activities.

Peaks: There are huge peaks here: the suspense, the writing, the characterization, the diversity. Fans of thrillers, especially political ones, will really enjoy the pace and structure, although some reviewers pointed out that they guessed the story's twist earlier on than they would have liked. The scenario is a good one, though, and very timely in its references to current global politics and the ongoing fight against disease. It successfully plays on fears of pandemics and paranoia about government cover-ups to create an exciting premise and an action-packed plot.

The writing, appropriately, is confident and tight, and it provides an intriguing glimpse into the world of our nation's wealthy and powerful, and the privileged lives of their children. However, these are no cardboard cutouts: the characterization is fantastic, and depth and complexity to are added to protagonist Emily Bird's story with the inclusion of issues of race and class. Firstly, she is black at an overwhelmingly white school, and despite being from a family as educated and successful as anyone else's, there is a level of underlying tension, a sense of having something to prove that she and her few African American peers share, even if they share little else. As the plot thickens, Emily begins to gain a sense of her core self that is NOT connected to either her classmates or her parents, and issues of identity are tackled directly in a very interesting way.

Also, the characters with whom she connects the most closely have intriguingly unique stories of their own: Coffee, whose family is not nearly as well off and who is known as the local drug dealer, is far more than what he seems, and Marella, an outsider because of her sexual orientation, ends up becoming a close ally and confidante as Emily's own status drifts away from the inner circle.

Valleys: I'll freely admit that I find it hard to relate to boarding school stories or prep school stories because I did not have that experience growing up; as someone who almost exclusively attended public schools until I went to grad school, I admit to not only having trouble relating to stories about "rich kids' school," but also to having somewhat of a chip on my shoulder about the advantages that so easily come to those with wealth and privilege, those types of teens who are depicted in this story. So this isn't a valley so much as a personal prejudice, I suppose.

As I mentioned earlier, too, there are always risks when you write a story of suspense that is structured in such a way that the reader might possibly guess the outcome too early—and that did seem to happen for some readers.

Conclusion: This was an intense, gripping, fascinating story, both because of its glimpse into the lives of the DC elite and because of the wonderful writing. Highly recommended for suspense fans.

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I bought my copy of this book as a Kindle ebook. You can find LOVE IS THE DRUG by Alaya Dawn Johnson at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!

IN TANDEM: DELICATE MONSTERS by STEPHANIE KUEHN

Happy Friday!
Welcome to another edition of In Tandem, the dual read-and-review blog series where both A.F. and I give our on-the-spot commentary as we read and team blog a book. (You can feel free to guess which of us is the yellow owl and which of us is the pinkish-purply owl...frankly, it depends on the day of the week!)

This week's book has been described as a "disturbing and engrossing" psychological thriller, and Kirkus says it's about "reckless redemption" and not for the faint of heart. To read a Kuehn book is to delve into the bits of humanity that you might not yet have a name for, to be profoundly uncomfortable with your thoughts, and to realize that the species as a whole has more in common with a rabid pack of hyenas than you'd prefer to believe. In the name of full disclosure, we enjoyed meeting the author in person last autumn at KidlitCon over dinner, and were glad for the chance to team read this novel.

NB: Here There Be Dragons. This is as close to a "reader advisory" as we get. This novel contains some disturbing ambiguous scenes of abuse, violence, partying, sexual activity and disturbing depictions of mental illness. Older teens and those who enjoy digging into the twists of our psyche will be just fine. *dusts off hands* Now! We're going to talk about this book - sans spoilers - and we hope you'll join us. We're...

 
Two writers,
& Two readers,
With one book.

In Tandem.

When nearly killing a classmate gets seventeen-year-old Sadie Su kicked out of her third boarding school in four years, she returns to her family's California vineyard estate. Here, she's meant to stay out of trouble. Here, she's meant to do a lot of things. But it's hard. She's bored. And when Sadie's bored, the only thing she likes is trouble.

Emerson Tate's a poor boy living in a rich town, with his widowed mother and strange, haunted little brother. All he wants his senior year is to play basketball and make something happen with the girl of his dreams. That's why Emerson's not happy Sadie's back. An old childhood friend, she knows his worst secrets. The things he longs to forget. The things she won't ever let him.

Haunted is a good word for fifteen-year-old Miles Tate. Miles can see the future, after all. And he knows his vision of tragic violence at his school will come true, because his visions always do. That's what he tells the new girl in town. The one who listens to him. The one who recognizes the darkness in his past.

But can Miles stop the violence? Or has the future already been written? Maybe tragedy is his destiny. Maybe it's all of theirs.

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We received copies of this book courtesy of St. Martin's Griffin Press for our tandem review. You can find DELICATE MONSTERS by Stephanie Kuehn at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you.

tanita: Wow, well, I started this novel Tuesday night at bedtime, and when I realized what a mistake that was I stopped -- took a deep breath, and ...finished the last ten pages Wednesday morning. I read most of this book in one setting, not because I couldn't put it down in the way that warmly memorable characters or snappy dialog or whatnot pulls you along, but because I kind of couldn't believe the stuff that was happening... I kept saying, "No, seriously!?" The things that were happening to the characters throughout the narrative kept me reading.

Sarah (aquafortis): I agree with that assessment entirely--it was very hard to put down, in a kind of train-wreck way. Each of these characters is battling their own private slide downward into morally dangerous territory. Battling their own worst selves, and often ignoring the better angels of their nature. It was both difficult to read and difficult to set aside.

When I think about character likeability, I first think about the book THAW, by Monica Roe which was a Cybils finalist some years back in YA Fiction, where I just could not like the character but he redeemed himself through personal growth. I feel like I have levels of not-liking which are sort of like those stupid survey choices:

• I would actively hang out with this person and could see them being a good friend!
• I would probably like this person
• I would be okay with this person, but I'd probably never hang out with them
• I would actively dislike this person
• Person is a sociopath

The main characters in this book are somewhere between active dislike and sociopath for me. What I found myself wanting more of as I read was what made them this way in terms of background, environment, childhood...and yet it was clear that I wouldn't be able to know that kind of thing until the author revealed it, because it would tip her hand, maybe.

tanita: As I read this book, I kept a few notes. Ten chapters in, I wrote, I can see the rough shape of a tragedy forming -- and boy, could I.

As I read, I also thought about things like "likeability" in characters. The characters in this book make me feel by turns discomfort and active dislike. No one feels... safe, or truly friendly. Which I noted as an interesting observation, followed by... What do I need from characters in books I read? For them to be my temporary friends? Not... really. Do I need for them to allow me to accompany them on a journey as they grow/change? Not always, but more of that, I think. So, then, I asked myself, Do we get what we need from the characters in this book? Do I see potential in the characters for growth or change? Do I want to go with them on this journey? No. Yes. Maybe.

Which, for me, is what makes Kuehn's books masterfully frightening. Because I'm being dragged on this trip regardless, and I don't sometimes understand why, or where we're going, and I'm absolutely positive that I won't know where I am when we get there, or like what I see. For some people, this kind of book is utterly, appallingly addictive. You just have to know what happens next...


AF: Her writing consistently astonishes me.

tanita: Oh, yeah. Such beautiful writing - really confident, clear writing. The sort of writing that makes you have to read slowly to let the concepts sort of hydrate in your brain before they bloom...

So, beautiful writing about ...sociopaths. Unreliable narrators. Murky scenarios, where doubts and fears and good and bad are all rolled in, as Dorothy Parker says, "a crazy plaid." I roll my eyes a lot when I hear people say, "Man, Stephanie Kuehn must have really dark places in her soul," yadda, yadda, yadda. That isn't true - this is fiction, and we all have dark places in our souls; we writers merely take license and delve into them. I applaud the author for her ability. I think it's amazing that she has the language to articulate and explore these places.


AF: All of Stephanie Kuehn's books are very well crafted, but this one in certain ways impressed me the most because the characters are the most challenging for me as a reader. As a writer, creating a character who is unlike you is a challenge to begin with, but the thought of creating--and KNOWING--a character that is so very far removed from the "normal" conception of functional reality that most of us live in...What a task to set oneself, but she lives up to it and somehow blends the beautiful and the terrible in a way that quietly hooks you...

tanita: ...with those sociopaths. It's hard to know how to feel about characters who really would have no feelings... about ... you. People are so charmingly canine; we're ready to wag our tails and lick anyone who wags their tail first. But, cats are kind of sociopaths, and people who, like cats, go their own way - who may or may not do anything more than crouch in a corner and stare at you with eyes that are all pupil... for most folk, they're flat-out disturbing, discomfiting, and we're not really sure they belong indoors. Of course, inside or out, they're apt to chase us, toy with us, and wound us - and then abruptly get up and leave us alone. I'd say that if this book were about cats and dogs, Sadie Su would be a giant, fluffy Persian cat.
As I was reading, I wondered if it was significant that Sadie is very wealthy. Can you blow people off like that and really own your crazy so well if you're poor? I mean, Emerson is poor in a rich person's paradise (and the depictions of the Napa Valley, where I've lived, were spot on)... but he's invested in "normal" really heavily.

AF: I'd love to unpack issues of class a little more. I thought that was an interesting aspect of the book that I almost wanted to see investigated in more depth. One of the things that put me off about Sadie's character right away was her snobbishness about the West-Coast public school environment. As a primarily public school kid, it's the kind of character trait that makes me think "blah blah BLAH boarding school East Coast Europe WHATEVER snore," but it's also an important factor that sets her apart from her fellow students and has informed her identity. Her family's wealth, and its dysfunction, create an intriguing backdrop for Sadie that makes me want to know more about what has formed her character--so that I CAN have more of that sense of empathy. Or maybe it's that BA in Psychology still lurking in the back of my head, wanting to know what makes people tick.

tanita: You make a good point.
Because almost every depiction of the bipolar or depressive or other mentally ill folk in fiction depicts them as Seriously Deranged ...I was a little uneasy about some of the negative portrayals in this book ... to me, such extreme depictions make people say, "Oh, I'm not like that," and can make it harder for people not to fear people with a disease, and for others to acknowledge that they have it. To that end, I found myself wishing that the author had spent more time on the character of Emerson - although, maybe the time spent was enough, in spite of the label placed on his family. Maybe the author was deliberately brief, because all of Emerson's issues and all of his guilt loops had a simple and straightforward answer: as his friend Trey said, when you screw up, you apologize. His issues, despite his family having been touched with mental illness, were in some ways much more straightforward.

AF: Yes, I loved that simplicity of Trey's advice. THAT moment felt like it could have been a turning point, and I think I really wanted it to be. I guess Emerson's final act in the novel was his way of apologizing, and while that felt very real, I wanted more to be made of the question of whether it was an act of escape or an act of redemption; generosity, or cowardice. There is a lot of complexity there, and as you said, there is a danger to the possibility of oversimplifying portrayals of mental illness. And I know some of my repulsion is connected to the fact that I really cannot handle animal abuse (in fiction or reality), but it also seems to be a frequent shorthand in fiction for "bad person," for sociopathy, and I have trouble with that.

tanita: And then there are those other characters in the novel, and you find yourself sifting through levels of "bad." Who is worse, someone who actively acknowledges that they'd just as soon rabbit-punch you in the back of the head, or someone who sneakily trips you and helps you up after you fall down a flight of stairs?

AF:What was interesting, too, was the arc of each character. Maybe "arc" isn't even the right word, because all three wandered back and forth between redeemable and irredeemable. (I guess it's safe to say none of them is static!) In the end, we are faced with the dilemma of moral ambiguity, "levels of 'bad'" as you mentioned. And yet we also understand WHY they do what they do--it isn't arbitrary behavior. On the contrary, the action of the book, the characters' actions, seem in many ways inevitable. That's one of the things that's so disturbing.

tanita: I've read interviews with the author where she talks about empathy and compassion. Part of why she writes this way, she says, is to reflect the way that she feels about people - it's never one way. You can be afraid of someone, attracted to someone, and repelled by them and want them desperately to both hang with you and to leave you alone. We're all a pastiche of particular (and peculiar)... reactions to and interactions with other individuals. I think I have learned to think about empathy in a new way, since reading her books - empathy is simply the ability to feel what other people feel, in this respect. You may or may not understand or be able to like them better because of it, but you GET them.

AF: Yes, exactly. And, yet...

tanita: I get a sense that you didn't like this book very much. I feel that's okay to say... I realize I admired this book, because of the writing... but just as I can't say I like something like Stephen King's MISERY, I can't say I like this novel. It's masterful and disturbing, but ...well, it's disturbing. It's, as you said, real and raw, and this kind of "real" scares me far more than chainsaw wielding maniacs (rare in real life) and stuff like vampires and zombies and rabid unicorns (so far nonexistent). And I think I read sometimes to be ...comforted? To be comforted that my worldview is right, or shared, to be comforted that Whatever triumphs over whatever Conflict the character is going through, to be ...reassured. For people who read to have their worldviews challenged, to get a frisson of Otherness and horror, this is definitely their book.

AF:I feel the same--I admired the book very much, and was amazed at the depth with which she explored the characters and their torturous worlds. But I can't like them. I really wanted to like Emerson, really wanted to like Miles, for much of the book. But as we gradually learn more and more...as the story unfolds...I went from "wanting to like" to just wanting to understand, and even that I had some difficulty with because I wasn't sure about the nature of the mental issues, whether there was bipolar or dissociative issues...and then Miles as a character kept a LOT of secrets from us throughout the book.

This is the Stephanie Kuehn book whose characters I have connected with the least. Their unreliability, their unpredictability, their destructiveness and sadism, pushed me away. That's very much something personal, not a comment on the writing itself.

I could still see this making a really good movie, because of the mysterious "following just behind the character's head" sensation that the author creates. In writing, we end up being SO close inside each character that we don't see what they aren't thinking about, if that makes sense.

tanita: I keep hearing people talking about this ending being "up in the air." It a little bewildering for me because it's not up in the air, at least it isn't for me. I know exactly what's going to happen - a happening that's been played out repeatedly in past years in conflicts between teens and the "warrior" mindset police confronting them. There's a certain air of tragic inevitability here; maybe tragedy is the destiny of these teens. Maybe they're past the point where an apology would have made a difference. And yet... and yet... even to the last scene, I wanted something better for them all. Not gonna lie, they broke my heart a little.

AF:I think, with the ending, it just went fast for me...choppy movie-like scenes where, instead, I wanted it unpacked a bit more. Not that they need to have explanatory soliloquies, but...Something. Maybe I'm just a completist who wants to understand everything and not have the end of the story left up in the air. :)

tanita: So - tragic, disturbing, enigmatic, ambiguous -- yet brilliant in a way that leaves us uncomfortable. Those are the descriptions we'll stick with. Thanks for reading along with me, and thanks to our readers for joining us for another round of In Tandem.

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Psst! If you're in the SF Bay Area, Stephanie Kuehn is having the book launch for DELICATE MONSTERS on June 13th at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway's Books. Check it out!